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Net revenue and net bookings were both down year-over-year at Activision Blizzard, but the company says that the quarter still outperformed its expectations.

Alissa McAloon, Publisher

August 8, 2019

2 Min Read

Net revenue and net bookings were both down year-over-year at Activision Blizzard, but the company says that the quarter still outperformed its expectations.

Net revenue for Q2 2019 came in at $1.396 billion overall, down from last year’s $1.641 billion but still above the $1.315 billion prediction it previously published for this quarter. Overall, $1.09 billion of that net revenue came from digital sources.

In its Q2 report, Activision Blizzard calls out some of its flagship franchises at Activision, Blizzard, and King alike for year-over-year or quarter-over-quarter boosts in engagement and active user. Likewise the money those players spent on in-game transactions made up a significant portion of the company’s earnings.

Activision Blizzard as a whole saw $800 million in net bookings from in-game transactions, while Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 specifically saw a year-over-year increase in net bookings from in-game items when compared against its predecessor, Call of Duty: WWII.

King’s Candy Crush franchise specifically continues to grow in terms of monthly active users year-over-year, and was responsible for 258 million of Activision Blizzard’s entire 327 million monthly active users this quarter.

Just at Blizzard, Hearthstone MAUs are up quarter-over-quarter and World of Warcraft subscribers have increased since May following announcements of new content, while Overwatch monthly active users remained “relatively stable” quarter-over-quarter.

Taking a closer look at those earlier net revenue figures, actual product sales only accounted for $359 million net revenue for the quarter. Other revenue sources, which Activision Blizzard lists as World of Warcraft subscriptions, licensing royalties, downloadable content, microtransactions, and other miscellaneous revenues were responsible for the remaining $1.037 billion of this quarter’s net revenue.

After subtracting costs, expenses, and tax expense, net income comes in at $328 million for the quarter, and at $774 million for the first half of the year.

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